194. Telegram From the Embassy in Thailand to the Department of State1
1218. 1. In my meeting with Foreign Minister Thanat this morning, he said he had been giving considerable thought to what new initiatives might be made prior to the beginning of the UN General Assembly. He referred to the proposal previously tentatively advanced by Secretary for a meeting of Foreign Ministers of the nations contributing troops in South Vietnam. He also alluded to the unsuccessful attempts to get any constructive action out of the Geneva Co-chairmen on U.S. willingness to expand the ICC activities on the Cambodian borders, and further to the[Page 539]unsuccessful attempts of PriMin Wilson and PriMin Gandhi to move the Soviets towards any constructive utilization of their position as Co-chairman. He said he would like the Secretaryʼs reaction to the thought of having the Japanese invite the FonMins of SVN and the troop-contributing nations and the FonMins of the regimes in Hanoi and Peiping and possibly also the Soviets to meet in Tokyo sometime in early September.
2. Thanat explained that if we continued to depend upon the Co-chairmen machinery as the only device for negotiations, we were giving the Soviets not only a veto power, but making their position increasingly difficult since they were vulnerable to Chinese criticism had they made any forthcoming moves regarding the reconvening of either of the Geneva conferences. It might be time, Thanat thought, for an Asian initiative honestly seeking to break this impasse. He did not think the Chinese would agree, although he thought it might have quite a bit of attractiveness for Hanoi. He thought that even in the event of the highly likely refusal of both regimes of such an invitation, it would allow us to go into the General Assembly with still another demonstration of the intransigence of the Communist camp. On other hand, in the unlikely event of the acceptance of such an invitation, he assumed that we would be prepared to participate.
3. Thanat pointed out that his own appraisal of Shiina and Sato led him to believe that, after their initial shock, they might be attracted by the thought. He recalled that in the 15 months patient preparations for the Seoul conference he had brought a great deal of pressure on both the Koreans and Japanese to settle their outstanding differences before he would agree to facilitate the preparations for the conference which was finally held. In this process he said he had come to have an increasing respect for both Sato and Shiina and thought that together they could handle any initial internal Japanese opposition.
4. I said I would immediately convey his thoughts to the Secretary.2
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, POL 27 VIET S. Secret; Priority; Limdis.↩
- In telegram 1881 to Bangkok, June 30, the Department replied that Thanatʼs proposal had, in its view, “no chance of success,” but it would not deter Thanat from trying it out with Shiina. (Ibid.) Thanat announced his proposal on August 3. Rostow indicated in a telephone conversation with Rusk on August 4 that the President was “quite excited about it”; Rusk replied that “we had a session on this yesterday and we are quite enthusiastic about going ahead with this; the problem is the kiss of death problem.” (Ibid., Rusk Files: Lot 72 D 192, Telcons) On August 5 Rusk endorsed the proposal at a news conference. (American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1966, p. 848) In telegram 22271 to Tokyo, August 5, Rusk instructed Reischauer to convey “our favorable view” to Japanese leaders. (Department of State, Central Files, POL 27 VIET S) Circular telegram 36816, August 27, reported that “Japanʼs vigorous support” had been the “most hopeful immediate outcome” of the proposal but that “reaction from other 15 Asian states to which proposal was addressed has been reserved or distinctly skeptical.” (Ibid.)↩